A new large species of Bitis Gray, 1842 (Serpentes: Viperidae) from the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia

Abstract

A new species of viperine viperid snake is described, Bitis harenna sp. nov. The new species is a member of the subgenus Macrocerastes based on it having three scales separating the nasal and rostral shields, and on the combination of 'divisions' of dorsal scale rows on the upper flanks and 'fusions' of rows on the lower flanks. Bitis harenna sp. nov. is distinguished from other members of the subgenus by its unique colour pattern, posterior parietal flange on the lateral wall of the braincase, and possibly by differences in scalation and head proportions. Only a single museum specimen is known, a female collected from 'Dodola' in Ethiopia probably in the late 1960s and previously identified as a possibly unusually coloured and patterned B. parviocula. A live, presumably male, specimen very closely resembling the holotype of Bitis harenna sp. nov. was photographed on the Harenna escarpment of the Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia in 2013, providing secure occurrence data and evidence that the holotype is not a uniquely aberrant specimen. A revised key to the species of Bitis in Ethiopia is presented. Aspects of body scalation are compared among species of the subgenus Macrocerastes and between species of Macrocerastes and Bitis, and several systematic characters are highlighted and clarified.

Diversification of African tree frogs (genus Leptopelis) in the highlands of Ethiopia

“…One genus and two species of toads are endemic to the Bale Mountains National Park (Largen & Spawls, ), while three endemic species of grass frogs in genus Ptychadena are also found there (Freilich et al., ; Reyes‐Velasco et al., ). Three species of reptiles (Gower et al., ; Largen, ; Tilbury, ) and a species of vervet monkey (Neumann, ) are also endemic to the Bale Mountains National Park. Our discovery of novel lineages of L. gramineus in the forests of southern Ethiopia provides further evidence that these areas constitute important biodiversity hot spots that deserve urgent measures for their conservation.…”

Ancient habitat shifts and organismal diversification are decoupled in the African viper genus Bitis (Serpentes: Viperidae)

“…The African viper genus Bitis provides an opportunity to test the habitat‐dependent hypothesis of ecological diversification. Commonly referred to as the African adders, Bitis is Africa's most taxonomically diverse and geographically widespread viperid genus, containing 18 extant species ( sensu Branch, ; Gower et al., ; Lenk, Herrmann, Joger, & Wink, ; Uetz, Freed, & Hošek, ) and one documented extinct Pleistocene species, Bitis olduvaiensis (Rage, ). Several studies have investigated the phylogeny of Bitis using morphological evidence (Ashe & Marx, ; Groombridge, ; Wittenberg, Jadin, Fenwick, & Gutberlet, ) and immunological distances (Lenk et al., ).…”

“…chameleons and snakes; Barlow et al, 2013;Pook, Joger, Stümpel, & Wüster, 2009;Tolley et al, 2013;Wüster et al, 2007). (Edwards, Vanhooydonck, Herrel, Measey, & Tolley, 2012;da Silva, Herrel, Measey, Vanhooydonck, & Tolley, 2014;da Silva & Tolley, 2017;Measey, Hopkins, & Tolley, 2009;Tolley et al, 2008) Branch, 1999;Gower et al, 2016;Uetz, Freed, & Hošek, 2017) and one documented extinct Pleistocene species, Bitis olduvaiensis (Rage, 1973). Several studies have investigated the phylogeny of Bitis using morphological evidence (Ashe & Marx, 1988;Groombridge, 1980;Wittenberg, Jadin, Fenwick, & Gutberlet, 2015) and immunological distances .…”

A new chameleon of the Trioceros affinis species complex (Squamata, Chamaeleonidae) from Ethiopia

“…This extensive south-central Ethiopian high-elevation plateau and massif above 3,000 m is a remarkable centre of endemism: Numerous endemic species are restricted to this area, e.g. several rodents, like Arvicanthis blicki, Dendromus lovati, Lophuromys melanonyx or Stenocephalemys albocaudata (Lavrenchenko et al 1997), frogs, like Altiphrynoides malcolmi, Balebreviceps hillmani, Ericabatrachus baleensis or Spinophrynoides osgoodi (Largen and Spawls 2011;Gower et al 2013), or the Bale Mountains Adder Bitis harenna (Gower et al 2016), and also the endangered Mountain Nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni occurs in this area (Refera and Bekele 2004).…”